Fifteen-year-old Hamid Ismail and 49 other chess players participated in the Barzani International Chess Tournament held in Erbil province’s Barzan region.
“I was the youngest player in the tournament, I participated in the tournament for the first time,” Ismail told Rudaw’s Andam Jabar on Monday.
The tournament was the second Barzani chess tournament and lasted for two days, and the Barzani Charity Foundation (BCF) supported the competition.
“The second Barzani International Chess Tournament was held under the auspices of the international federation in collaboration with the Iraqi Chess Federation and was supervised by the Barzani Charity Foundation in collaboration with the Khanzad Chess Club,” Dilzar Hama Salih, President of Khanzad Chess Club, told Rudaw.
The Secretary-General of the Asian Chess Federation and the President of the Iraqi Chess Federation were present at the tournament and promised to help the players of Barzan and the Kurdistan Region to participate in international tournaments.
“Truthfully, this tournament was a surprise for us as the Iraqi Chess Federation and the West Asia Federation because we did not expect such high standards as shown in this tournament, Zafar Abdulamir, President of the Iraqi Chess Federation, told Rudaw.
The winner of the tournament was a young man from Erbil province’s Harir district. The participants from first to sixth place were awarded prizes.
